Church Conspiracy

>>51315486
I'm guessing you want something other than
>God is evil
My first suggestion would be have it be a splinter group, the main core of the church would be appalled if they found out the shit that was going down and if the PCs just assume "Evil church" they'll just cause more problems then they solve

another idea, though it feels kinda cliche, that I've never seen done is to have the church be the good ones in this scenario/have a justified reason, like they're fighting against another conspiracy that's compromised the crown, king's actually evil, ect and despite their soft political power, the King could have them all arrested if they go against him

>>51315486
I've always liked the other church trope of a peaceful somewhat naive priest who becomes hardened by war.

as for variations on an evil church you aim for a more innocent form of evil? the head of the church gets tempted by money and starts doing unethical things, but then see's the error of their ways and tries to make things right. a good story of redemption is always nice, and its a good change of pace to see the church doing something that isn't entirely corrupt.

>>51315486
Is it weird I want to fuck that virgin Mary like haha

>>51315895
I wonder if it counts as cliche if it's not done often or at all. My current idea was that the church is buying up land, replacing clerks and bureaucrats, and bribing nobles in order to unite a huge swath of divided principalities as an empire, but that could easily be seen as a good thing if their goal is to create a stable diplomatic institution to end the squabbling and petty wars that tear up the country.

Besides the church and the nobility, what other estate could set in motion a revolution, good or evil? Merchant guilds?

>>51315486
>Church secretly trying to take over country
>Twist: They're doing this because the Royal Family has been corrupted by devils and the King is now the literal anti-christ

>>51315486
their holy book holds a code that, when recited properly, activates magical runes within the book that creates a suggestion to whomever reads the book. the suggestion is guided by the priests and church officials. its basically a get rich quick scheme except it has been going for a thousand years and has created a continent-spanning theocracy with a huge military.

>>51315979
It just feels cliche to me, or at least shyamalanesque
Guilds basically
If you want to keep it "historic", most medieval themed nations would follow the estate system, where society is divided into three estates, nobles, clergy, and commoners (system was actually more complicated then that, depending on what nation/time period but the three broad categories stayed the same)
Of the three only the nobles and clergy have major political power, the rise of the middle/merchant class actually threw a wrench into things as "commoners" now had money to throw around and could influence politics and were often seen as upstarts

What about a setting where there's several competing churches, or even one that resembles a different organized religious system besides Catholicism? Like Protestantism, or Islam. Maybe something like the Ikko Ikki.

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>>51315486
Maybe the king is a warlord, and is preparing for a war based on an old grudge that is sure to devastate the kingdom if he follows through, and the church is just trying to stop him by rallying against him, sending a small force of holy warriors/templars to inspire the people and redpill them on what is really going on.

I have a question for my setting too;
What reason would a Not!Catholic church have to tell people to bury their dead and not cremate them in a gothic fantasy setting where necromancy and zombies exist?

The Church is, in general, noble and good, spread throughout the land. It's more or less divorced from politics while maintaining a presence of authority amongst the people and deep respect from the nobility for times when the kingdom and church have joined forces. But in recent times, the people have begun to notice small changes in the church's behaviour - changes in how services are carried out, the content of sermons, there are church militants seen patrolling the outskirts of the capital city and within it, the main cathedral clergy have become reclusive and silent. The annual goodwill donation of the nobles went unceremoniously received with only a token acknowledgement from a middle management clerical envoy.

And this is happening across the entire country, in every religious base, things have gone weird. Some suspect a secretive dogmatic shift or other profound event within the church hierarchy that's gone unspoken.

But nobody suspects that there isn't a single human being left in the entire church body. Everyone, from sacristans to priests to diocesans have been replaced with demonic copies and husks of humanity inhabited by writhing evil spirits. The main cathedral, a holy place of worship for only the clergy and the king, located in the heart of the city's upper districts, is completely devoid of human life and is crawling with unspeakable horrors. Every change in the church's actions has been a calculated attempt by nameless forces to debase the holy rites and rituals of the church, corrupt them and the innocent lay people and finally corner and corrupt the nobility, taking over the kingdom.

>>51315966
Even god felt that way

>>51316317
Burying your dead in a blessed graveyard ensures a peaceful afterlife. Cremation/desecration causes incorporeal undead to form.

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>>51316168